department not to buy firearms from defensive automatic. >> eliot: you got to be in charge of policy. i proposed that ten years ago when i was attorney general to the clinton white house use your power as a purchaser. don't buy from companies who pursue these policies. we have got to--tv being what it is, we have to stop now. but i'm going to have you back. in two minutes you've come up with better ideas than anybody in washington about how to confront this, and you've done something about it. our thanks go out to you. you have made us all proud. >> thank you. >> eliot: that's "viewpoint" for tonight. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning

everybody! fellow americans and welcome to the "full court press." here we go on thursday, december 20. how about it. four shopping days left until christmas. and lot to talk about because finally we see some action here in washington, d.c. i was there yesterday in the white house briefing room when president obama announces a task force on guns. he put vice president joe biden in charge. he gave them only one month to come up with a set of recommendations that he would then push through congress. and then he opened up the floor to questions and all the white house press corps wanted to talk about was the fiscal cliff. come on! it just shows how out of it they are. they can't get outside the beltway. they don't know what the american people really care about! all right. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here. but first, before we get to your calls, we'll take time out to get the latest, today current news update from lisa ferguson joining us from los angeles. good morning, lisa. >> hey bill.

good morning everyone. that task force is wasting no time getting to work, as bill mentioned, that's the task force president obama commissioned in the wake of the newtown tragedy. vice president joe biden will hold his first official meeting today. the group will develop proposals aimed at reducing gun violence in the united states and must put together a set of recommendations by january. cabinet members joining biden on the panel include attorney general eric holder and education secretary arne duncan, homeland security janet napolitano and health and human services katherine seen liss. the brady campaign to prevent gun violence says it will continue pressing the issue. the group is out with a new public service announcement saying we're better than this. >> we're better than a nation with mass shooting. >> we're better than 32 more gun murders every day.

>> we are better than the nation that allows convicted felons or people who are dangerously mentally ill to go to gun shows. >> to go on the internet and buy as many guns as they want without any background check. >> the psa is part of an overall campaign that will feature celebrities and victims of gun violence meant to overcome partisan politics surrounding gun control. the nra is breaking its silence on this issue planning on holding a major press conference tomorrow. more bill press is coming up after the break. we're live in our chat room, current.com/billpress. see you there. all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> only on current tv. tell them it's like being nestled in an eight-way, adjustable, heated and ventilated seat surrounded by a 500-watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. or you could just hand them your keys. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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show." >> bill: president obama tells joe biden, up to you dude. get to work on guns. up to all of the rest of us, too. what do you say? hello, everybody. good morning, good morning, good morning! good thursday morning! it is december 20. and this is the "full court press." here we go. for the next three hours we'll be talking about the news of the day. what's happening here in our nation's capital. with president obama appointing a task force on guns yesterday and it seems that negotiations such as they were over the fiscal cliff have totally fallen apart. tell you what's happening around the rest of the country and around the globe and most importantly, we will give you a chance your first chance of the day not only to find out what's going on but to sound off on the issues of the day. that's what makes it so fun here on the "full court press." you can give us a call at 1-866-55-press. we invite your calls at any time. that's our toll free number.

1-866-55-press. you can join us, of course, on twitter. your comments on twitter welcome at bpshow. you can join us on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. and there is this big chat room going on all across the country. people from all over the country. the only thing you've got in common is you care about america and you're listening to or watching the "bill press show." you're listening on sirius x.m. or you're watching on current tv. join the fun. join the fun here and join the team. you're all part of the team. peter ogborn's got the week off with his family. dan henning. never gets a vacation. he's here. >> i do not. i should talk to the union about that. my goodness. >> talk to your boss about it.

good morning. >> bill: phil backert has the phones covered. cyprian bowlding keeps us on camera look good. hd makeup, the whole thing is his job. hello, cyprian. right. we're getting -- we're closing in on christmas here. thursday. one more day before all of us -- most of us flee the coop for the holidays. >> today is my day to hopefully finish my shopping. i've got like three more gifts to get for -- i'm not going to say for who. three more. >> bill: man i'm done. >> i'm not done at all. i've got an hour and a half worth of work tonight. >> bill: oh, really? gotta get out there. >> i'll be there. >> bill: do you know where the apple store is by the way? >> i do. >> bill: it is not that far away. >> i've got one in bethesda. in walking distance from my apartment. >> bill: is it really? >> oh, yeah. >> bill: here's something you might consider. if you -- you know, looking for

like a good read, i told you a good read that i took with me when i went to istanbul a couple of weeks ago. i took a read -- not a good read. but everybody was talking about it so i just wanted to find out what the hell it was all about. i read "fifty shades of gray." it is nothing but porn. it is not even good porn. certainly not good fiction but if i had known, i would not have taken the book. i would have taken the audiotape of george takei reading "fifty shades of gray." >> over my stomach between my eyes with his long-fingered hands, oh, my. >> bill: oh, my. >> i tip my head back, my eyes rolling to the back of my head, my mouth slack and i grown. the pressure is building slowly inexorably inside me.

oh my. >> that's so good. >> bill: it is so bad. it is amazing of him to ham it up with "fifty shades of gray." he has a new book out. the whole idea of his doing this is to pump his own book. >> right. it is a viral web video. we actually put it on the facebook page. facebook.com/billpressshow. >> it is not porn. it is a picture of him drinking tea and reading "fifty shades of gray." >> bill: what he's really doing is promoting his own book which is, i think called "oh my." good for george takei. lots coming up. very important people we'll be talking to in the next three hours. congresswoman rosa from connecticut. nobody can speak more poignantly or directly about what happened almost a week ago now in newtown, connecticut.

we'll also be joined by senator tom udall from new mexico and with the report out which blasts the state department for not doing good enough job to protect our personnel in benghazi, joe cirincione, our foreign policy guru will be here as well. we'll get right into it. president obama's big announcement at the white house briefing room yesterday. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> here are the other things you need to know before you head out the door this morning. you wouldn't think you would ever hear steven spielberg call chris christie one of his heroes but the liberal hollywood heavyweight praised him as one of his personal heroes saying christie was able to put politics aside for the greater good during hurricane sandy and that was really telling about him and what he did was right and he did it right at the end of an election cycle too. spielberg's other heroes, nelson man elidel la, bill clinton and gaby giffords around -- nelson

mandela, bill clinton and gaby giffords. abc's sam donaldson is in trouble. the former white house correspondent was arrested earlier this month in delaware on dui charges. >> bill: oh! that's too bad. >> in lewis, delaware. he failed a field sobriety test from december 1st. he's scheduled to appear in court there tomorrow. >> bill: all right. sam, i hope my home state of delaware, you know, doesn't throw sam in jail. drunk driving, i don't care who it is a serious offense. but sam let jan drive. you don't have to drive. let jan drive. >> there you go. the library of congress is out with its latest list of films that it is adding to the national film registry. the list of 25 includes dirty harry, breakfast at tiffany's a

league of their own and "the matrix." the movies are not necessarily the best movies of all-time. only they somehow influenced culture ever. >> bill: life and times of mill was added. >> movies from like the late 1800s and early 1900s when they first started producing film are on there too. >> bill: dan, thank you, thank you. yes, indeed. it was a packed briefing room at the white house yesterday. a lot more people than usual come to the briefing, of course. because the president of the united states was the speaker this time. we tweeted out some photos from the briefing room yesterday. i hope you saw they're on our facebook page and on twitter. and the president came into the briefing room with the news that he -- by the way it is interesting. we've been frustrated and critical of president obama of course, because over the last --

first four years he really did nothing about gun control. and in fact, signed some things making it easier to get guns and carry guns into our national parks. but at any rate, with our criticism of president obama you must admit he's finally getting around to it and he has really been on it since this horrific tragedy last friday morning in newtown connecticut. friday, that very day he came in the briefing room. and with a very moving statement, expressed his shock and anger and determination to do something. sunday, he was up there and was determined and gave a magnificent speech calling the nation to action and admitting as a nation, we have not done enough about guns and protecting our kids. and including himself in that criticism. that was just sunday. monday he met with some of his to be cabinet people. eric holder, joe biden kathleen

sebelius and said let's kick some ideas around. give me your ideas. tuesday, he talked to senator joe manchin from west virginia. and said you know, give me your ideas. he talked to the governor of connecticut. he talked to some other people. yesterday he came to the briefing room and he announced formation of this task force. led by vice president joe biden. >> obama: ask the vice president to lead a task force to come up with a set of concrete proposals no later than january proposals that i then intend to push without delay. >> bill: right. you got it? it's a task force. he didn't mention who's going to be on the task force by the way which one of the reporters had asked him. i would have asked him if i had a chance. but it is a task force headed by the vice president of the united states. so this is about as important as you can get on an important

issue you can get. one month he said. david jackson our friend david jackson, ask him a little bit later, uh-huh. they have a month to come up with some concrete recommendations. president said i will then take those and push them. he said that. he would push them in the congress. the president also said that he would take whatever executive action, in other words, he said he'll do all that he can as president. >> obama: i will use all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. >> bill: and you know, several of our callers yesterday said oh, my god this is such a big issue. we might as well not even try to resolve it. the president said uh-huh. no no, no, that's not excuse. >> obama: we won't prevent them all but that can't be an excuse not to try.

it won't be easy but that can't be an excuse not to try. >> bill: and the president admitted jay carney has made this point in the last couple of days that you know, this is a complex issue. it is not just looking at the guns themselves. you've gotta look at other related issues. you have to look at the whole question of our culture and our movies and particularly, our video games which desensitize kids to violence and to killing. you've got to look at school safety issues. you've got to look at mental health issues. whether we're doing enough to put some of the people away maybe who ought to be put away or give them the treatment and healthcare that they need. a lot of that in the affordable care act and obamacare but not enough. so the president says you have a whole range of issues but on guns, he was very specific. he said definitely he would support a renewal of the assault weapons ban. he said definitely he would support having a criminal background check for every

single purchase even at gun shows. definitely he would support a ban on the high capacity clips or magazines. we'll have to see what that proposal and exact proposal and maybe some other things as we talked yesterday. he was open to all ideas. maybe a buyout like they had in australia starting back in 1996. at that point so first question to you are you happy with the president now? 1-866-55-press. do you think he's showing the right leadership on this issue? 1-866-55-press. or maybe you think it's just -- it is just another commission that's not going to amount to anything. this is not going to be easy. not going to be automatic and more and more republicans yesterday, now they're starting to come out of hiding. more and more republican house members yesterday saying no, no, no, the worst thing we should do is anything about guns and any gun control. let's not just have a knee-jerk reaction. it is not a knee-jerk reaction. it is a necessary reaction. then -- so the first question is happy with president obama?

1-866-55-press second question is are you happy with the white house press corps? boy, i gotta tell you, as a member of it, i'm not. i thought it was embarrassing yesterday. so the president opens it up to questions after the task force and he said to joe, i'm going to take some questions. he starts out with ben feller from ap who is a great reporter and first thing ben asks is nothing about guns but about the fiscal cliff. jesus, get off the fiscal cliff. nothing's happening on the fiscal cliff. it is just john boehner playing games to save his ass. he asked about fiscal cliff. the president went on and on, droning on and on, he spoke longer in response to the question about the fiscal cliff than he did about guns, period. then he goes to carol lee another good friend who has been in the studio with us. she asked about the fiscal cliff. then he goes to keira i forget her last name from politico. she asks about the fiscal cliff. at this point i was going crazy. i was going bonkers.

get back to the issue of the day! let's get back to saving these kids! finally david jackson got it back to the fiscal cliff. but it just shows to me that the white house press corps is so -- so fond of navel-gazing. they can't get out of the beltway. they don't know what the freak is going on in the rest of the country or what people really care about. care about the wonky issues and the cheap, partisan political games that people play and that john boehner is playing with the fiscal cliff. i must admit i was disappointed not to mention jake tapper's impertinent and disrespectful question. to the president. 1-866-55-press. happy with obama? yes or no. happy with the white house press corps. yes or no. your turn. let's get it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the world that leave no shortage

for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

jennifer > i want the people come away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them that you're put on this planet for something more! i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action for themselves. as a human being that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

>> bill: president obama naming a task force on guns yesterday. good move. given a chance to ask questions about it, the white house press corps, all they want to talk about is the fiscal cliff. there is a way of asking the president so do you wish maybe given what happened in newtown connecticut, that you had done more about guns in your first four years. instead, this is how jake tapper

from abc news asked the question. >> seems to a lot of observers that you made the political calculation of 2008 in your first term of 2012 not to talk about gun violence. you had your position on renewing the ban on semi-automatic rifles but you didn't do much about it. this is not the first incident of horrific gun violence of your four years. where have you been? >> bill: where have you been? where have you been? president obama was pissed. the rest of us were shocked. there is a way of asking the question. that's not the way to ask it. president obama showed his irritation. he kind of put jake tapper down. >> obama: well, here's where i've been, jake. i've been president of the united states dealing with the worst economic crisis since the great depression. an auto industry on the verge of collapse. two wars. i don't think i've been on vacation. >> bill: you know what i would

have said. i would have said i'll answer your question, jake tapper, when you show some respect for the president of the united states. shane is calling from richmond, virginia. good morning. >> caller: hi, bill. thank you for taking my call. >> bill: thank you. >> caller: thank you for staying on this issue. i really want to hear it addressed. i am pleased with what obama has put out there. what he's decided to do. i would like to see him also place a moratorium on gun manufacturing and sales. i tell you what i'm really upset with it about is the response from those senators who have said that they are not going to go along with gun regulations. >> bill: they're in the pocket of the gun lobby let's face it. it is all about money and politics for them. not about doing the right thing. >> caller: that's really

apparent. it is very apparent that they are bought off when you ask them questions or you hear questions about the fiscal cliff. and about other issues. >> bill: yeah, i'll tell you that moratorium could be one of the recommendations that comes out of the task force. we don't know. it is kind of wide open. i think we're going to see some strong recommendations and i think we're going to see continuing strong action on the part of the president. i'm happy he's moving. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the

ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

>> bill: president obama appointing a task force headed by vice president biden. all they want to talk about is the fiscal cliff. don't you think we should give people who aren't millionaires a tax break? let's get with the right program here. the right issue. back with your calls at 1-866-55-press. and did jake tapper cross the line with his impertinent and disrespectful question to president obama? again, back to your calls in just a minute. first, if you're looking for maybe a little extra relief, a little extra cash at the end of each month here's something i encourage you to consider. that is incomeathome.com. they're america's leading work from home business. doing business every day in over

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i'm jobbed. another one says he deserves it for standing strong. but john john says mark halprin is just trying to boost sales. the american worker should be person of the year instead. >> bill: president obama is an american worker. >> he is. so there you go. >> bill: we've been critical of him for not doing enough about gun control. about access to guns. some of the -- now he's determined to make it a priority. is it too little, too late? or is he on the right track? i think he's got the momentum right now. i think he's going about it the right way. i think we'll see some action in january and i think the press corps yesterday made -- just made fools of themselves by the way they didn't focus on this issue. didn't pick up on this issue. and particularly when they did jake tapper going over the line, i believe. anthony in statesville

north carolina. anthony, what do you say? good morning. >> i'm very happy with the president. however, my big concern is in the '90s when they banned these high-capacity magazines they excluded private police agencies and private security. this is the first line of defense at some of the schools. and it makes no sense to me to have unarmed security given some of the incidents that some of the schools -- that have to be considered. >> bill: i'm not sure that you understand. they excluded them, they did not allow security forces at schools to carry weapons? >> they didn't allow them to carry high-capacity magazines and the schools they had private security which is two separate issues. >> bill: yeah, you know, anthony, look, i'll look into that. i don't think that the school security was part of the assault weapons ban at all. i think they're talking about two different issues. john is calling from -- but i'm

going to look into it. john is calling from asheville north carolina. hey, john, good morning. >> caller: good morning. bill, i love you. but i got to call you down on -- >> bill: go ahead. >> caller: on how you described jake tapper's question. i thought tapper had every right to ask it and in the tone in which he asked it. i don't think it was necessarily disrespectful. i think it was hey dude, where have you been on an issue involving life and death and an issue which not only took place in aurora, colorado and other places of mass killing but takes place practically every day in our cities. which hardly gets reported on. but the executive off the white house darn well knows what goes on in -- on the south side of chicago, inner city detroit and

new york and los angeles. so jake, keep on asking those questions. we need a stronger press. >> bill: hey john, let me just explain my position here. i think it was a very fair question. you've heard me ask the question if you're a regular. and been very critical. and i've asked questions of jay carney at the briefing about why the president hadn't acted, for example, on the assault weapons ban. i'm just saying there is a way to ask that question which preserves the dignity of the media -- of the press and of the president of the united states. i had a long conversation after the briefing yesterday, for example, with peter baker from "the new york times" and peter said look, that was a legitimate question but he said the way i would have asked it would have been mr. president, you said sunday night that, as a nation, we have not done enough to protect our kids. do you include yourself in those who have not done enough and do

you regret, given what happened in newtown connecticut that you didn't do more in your first four years. that's a legitimate question. but just to say hey dude, where you been, dude? come on. that really, i think did show disrespect. >> caller: you are paraphrasing my tone, bill. that's -- >> bill: i'm trying to explain why i think jake crossed the line john. that's all. there is a way of asking the question. i think jake asked it the wrong way. >> caller: and if the president were honest, president were really forthcoming, he would have -- to himself i guess he must be -- he must have had this conversation with himself and with his cabinet. but he would have answered jake, i tell ya, i have been -- frankly, i've been a little wary of the nra and its political

power. i have steered clear of this issue since my election. >> bill: i think -- yeah, the president didn't say that. he did say -- he did admit he wished he had done more. i think you might have got an better answer out of obama if you didn't piss him off the way you ask the question. john, thanks for the call. loren calling from westchester new york. >> caller: how you doing? >> bill: i'm doing good. >> caller: i disagree with the president on this issue. >> bill: how so? >> caller: zero gun control. we need to ban those laws. >> bill: we need what? >> caller: we need zero gun control in this country. >> bill: why? >> caller: because basically the constitution says, in my constitution anyhow, that the right to own a gun shall not be infringed upon. >> bill: that's not what the constitution says. take it out and reread it, loren. i don't want to listen to you. i don't want to hear this crap anymore that the constitution --

that the united states constitution allows the murder of 20 little kids in a first grade classroom in newtown connecticut. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. i don't want to hear it. i'm not going to debate it. you're dead ass wrong. david is calling from columbus, georgia. >> caller: hi, bill. first of all with all due respect, the constitution doesn't say you can kill 20 kids. it doesn't say that. it doesn't say that you can commit murder. it doesn't say that you can commit mayhem. >> bill: it also doesn't say you can have an assault weapon or a canon -- >> caller: you have the right to keep and bear arms. the supreme court justice scalia said that if you can carry it, it is considered an arm. >> bill: oh, yeah, that's a great opinion. that's really brilliant. justice scalia. >> caller: that's a supreme court justice. >> bill: yeah, and he's an idiot. >> caller: bill, i went into a gun store yesterday. because i'm looking to buy an ar-15 myself. they are flying off the shelves.

i've gone to online retailers. they're out of stock. >> bill: okay. fine. then why should congress do anything? why should the president do anything? if people are buying them. therefore nobody should do anything about gun control right? is that what you're saying? >> caller: bill, what i'm saying is the weapons are already out there. >> bill: of course. >> caller: so banning the sales of new ar-15s or ak-467s or other so-called assault rifles isn't going to do anything. >> bill: that's just a lame ass excuse for doing nothing. the president said it again yesterday. this is not easy. this is a complex issue. but that's not an excuse for doing nothing david. i've heard all of the excuses before. it is b.s. >> caller: the president didn't care about this issue until 20 kids got shot. >> bill: that's not true. i don't think it is true to say he didn't care about it. i tell you one thing he cares about a hell of a lot more than you do. what an idiotic response. you know what? i went to the apple store to get

a new iphone. they didn't have any in stock. so what the hell, get rid of them because you can't buy one today. the logic. whatever happened to it? the fact that people are buying these guns doesn't mean they're right. it doesn't mean we need more of them. it doesn't mean we can't do anything. it doesn't mean we have to have more mass shootings in this country. jesus, people! get with it. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." fraud on wall street. the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow. exciting issue. from financial regulation, fraud on wall street. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: so meredith shiner from roll call is going to be here in the next hour as a "friend of bill." and we'll be joined by congresswoman rosa dell aro from connecticut. we've been talking a lot about the -- so far this hour about the president's task force on guns headed by vice president joe biden. got to work yesterday. has one month the president said to come up with a set of recommendations. he will push those recommendations across the whole panoply of issues we ought to be dealing with to stem gun violence in this country. push those in the congress. meanwhile, the president dismaying a lot of democrats a lot of liberals, a lot of progressives myself included, by even before serious negotiations got underway on the fiscal cliff the president was willing to up the number of

people who get a free ride on their taxes from $250,000, the first $250,000 in income to the first $400,000. but on top of that, was willing to put social security on the table and change the way we calculate benefits of social security after promising over and over and over again that he would not consider any cuts to social security. what's going on? robert weissman joins us on our news line. very outspoken about this. president of public citizen. good morning. >> hey bill, good to be with you. >> bill: first of all this gets so wonky. we shouldn't let it get wonky. what is the difference that the president has accepted? what is this so-called chained cpi and what does it mean? >> well, hopefully he hasn't accepted it and hopefully it won't be part of any final package. >> bill: i agree with you on that. >> the simplest way to understand it, it is a stealth cut to social security benefits. a little bit more explanation is

as any social security recipient knows, they get cost of living increases every year. what they're talking about is changing the way the cost of living increase is calculated so that it will be less. >> bill: which means benefits are less, right? >> the benefits are less. so you're going to get -- if you're getting $500 a month right now next year it would be $510. under the current system. under the change system, it might be $505. over time, if you make those relatively small changes in individual's benefits and you keep compounding it year after year, it becomes a very big deal five years ten years out and then when you talk about 20 and 30 years which is what the impact would be, huge impact over future social security recipients. >> bill: the people who are going to be impacted by this are... >> well, social security is our greatest anti-poverty program. everyone benefits from social security. everybody turns old. you get social security no

matter how much money you make. how rich or poor you are but poorer people, poorer older people depend on it much more. and so if they're going to get less money the impact is going to be much bigger. on those people than it would be on wealthier people. >> bill: those people who are -- who have had it pretty easy or made a lot of money right, are pretty comfortable will have social security plus whatever pension and retirement plan they have. but there are millions of seniors who have social security period. right? they're the ones who are really going to be impacted, i would imagine. >> that's right. if your social security benefits aren't that big a deal to you as an older person and you get a little bit less, it is not that much of an issue for you. if this is what you live on, it is a huge deal. >> bill: i have -- been at the white house the last couple of days right. the president was asked about this yesterday. jay carney was asked about it on

monday or tuesday. maybe both days. and their response is well, this shows our willingness to compromise. but i thought social security was one thing we weren't even going to talk about. what happened? >> well, it is hard for me to get into the psychology but there are so many ways in which this is wrong. we're trying to deal with an imaginary deficit problem. we actually need to have more deficit spending. the whole premise of this stuff is wrong-headed. then, as you say the president said going into these negotiations that social security would not be part of the discussion. it wasn't just a political discussion or comment or an expression of his commitment to social security. both of which would have been good. it was acknowledging that social security pays for itself. no problem with social security. it is two decades away. it should be dealt with in its own right. otherwise, you're trying to cut

social security to deal with the deficit problem. you're cheating social security. he was acknowledging that at the time. why they would go back on that on the merits, i have no idea. even harder to understand is why they go back on it politically given the huge, deep support for social security across the political spectrum. >> bill: would we raise a lot of new revenue this way or save a lot of money this way? and i guess -- compounded question couldn't you -- make even more by just -- or save even more by raising, you know, the limit on what we pay in social security taxes on from $110,000 now up to $150,000 or whatever. >> right. so the impact of this gets bigger and bigger over time. it is about $120 billion over the next ten-year period which is how this is updated. going further in the future, it is a bigger impact. it would be a bigger so-called savings for the government. that's also exactly saying a bigger cut to everybody.

>> bill: yes. >> going forward. if you wanted to tinker with social security which i really think you shouldn't be doing right now, the way to go about doing it would be to collect more revenue from wealthier americans. of course, if you're saying we do believe that we need more revenue for the government or less spending, there's a long list of things that you would do before you started messing around with social security. and you know, among the many things is you could tax wall street. you can have a very small tax on wall street's transactions. very very small tax would raise $250 billion over ten years. you can have bigger taxes. you can get into the trillions. >> bill: that's something a public citizen has been pushing for which i think makes a lot of sense. unfortunately, we're up here against the top of the hour. we have to let you go. i'm glad you spoke out on this. keep up the fight. i hope we can persuade the white house to say this was a mistake. robert weissman, head of public

citizen. thank you robert. citizen.org is the web site. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: okay. congresswoman rosa dellaro up in the next hour. meredith shiner here from roll call as a "friend of bill." debra seal said i've disagreed with you all week. but i agreed with you today. obama is on it and has been

since the shootings last friday. but lisa fox says give it a rest. if you bleeding heart liberals don't like it, then move. we're not going to give up our god given right to the second amendment. you are the reason why we're closing in on end times. say good-bye because you are all going to burn in the lake of fire. well that's tomorrow according to the mayan calendar. i guess lisa must be a mayan. bye-bye. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning

everybody. what do you say? it is thursday. thursday december 20. great to see you today. this is the "full court press." welcome to the program. we'll tell you what's go on around this great country of ours and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. and the big news is president obama yesterday announcing a new task force on guns. vice president joe biden is in charge. the president giving them one month to come up with a concrete set of recommendations. he'll take the recommendations to the united states congress and push for them and then the president took questions from reporters and all they wanted to ask about was the fiscal cliff. i mean give me a break. that's not what the american people really care about. that's not the most important issue of the day. or certainly wasn't of yesterday that's most of what we're talking about this morning. but first, we take time out to get the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning everyone. four state department officials

are out in light of a critical report on the handling of the attacks in benghazi. an independent review panel led that investigation and blamed the state department for management failures and a lack of security at the u.s. embassy in benghazi where four americans were killed. a department spokeswoman says security chief eric boswell is among the officials stepping down. the white house has also named charlene lam in charge of embassy security and raymond maxwell overseeing northern africa. this report and the cited failings by the state department are taking center stage today through a hearing in congress. that's putting pressure on senator john kerry. the man likely next in line to take the reigns. kerry said his hearing will bring clarity to what the state department is doing to prevent this from happening again. current secretary of state hillary clinton was scheduled to testify today. that will be postponed until january. her office says she suffered a concussion and is working from home this week. also on the hill, senate

republicans are offering up their own package for sandy relief. hurricane sandy that is. president obama originally asked for $60.4 billion. the g.o.p. says they're willing to give $23.8. they've weeded out anything not directly related to the hurricane including $13 billion that would build up future storm defenses. we're expecting a vote on that on friday. more bill press is coming up after the break. we're live in our chat room as always. you can join us there at current.com/billpress. see you there.

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press show." >> bill: president obama puts joe biden in charge of the task force on guns and says you got one month! hey, joe you got one month to come up with some ideas. we're going to take them to congress. good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" this thursday morning. december 20. good to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. bringing you up to date on all of the stories, the news of the day. happening here in our nation's capital. there is some news yesterday particularly on the gun control front. we'll tell you what's happening here, around the country also and around the globe and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. don't forget there are many ways you can get in the conversation, not just by giving us a call but also how about on twitter. go to -- our twitter handle at bpshow. on facebook, facebook.com/billpressshow. and in the chat room, where thousands of you every day join

up with your fellow watchers and listeners around the country to talk about the issues, go to current.com, click on chat room and you're in. joining us with her insights on the issues of the day and on what's happening or not happening here in our nation's capital, good friend of the program, back here for the holiday season, meredith shiner covers congress for roll call. >> always here for the holiday season it seems. >> bill: very colorful. >> thank you. you know, i'm just trying to bring a little bit of holiday cheer to an otherwise dismal situation. being with you is wonderful. congress is a little bit too much to deal with these days. >> bill: it must be frustrating, right? i've talked to several members friends of mine who just say they may as well be home cutting their lawn or something. they're not getting anything done. they're just sitting around. >> they're sitting around. actually a friend and a trusted

former editor of mine was like these guys sitting around doing nothing. how are they filling their time? as you might imagine it is difficult to sell a press -- let me hang out with your boss as he's playing words with friends with other members. that's not something they want out there. but yeah, the negotiations, as you know are mostly happening between president obama and speaker boehner and everybody else is just sort of -- >> bill: but they're not happening between obama and boehner. >> that's true. those have sort of ceased. although it is becoming increasingly difficult to decipher what's real and what's not. is this a real fight? is it a fake fight? is it a strategic fight? i don't even know at this point. in all of the negotiations i've covered in my career, whether it was on healthcare or dodd frank or even the super committee this is the most opaque and complicated to figure out because it just -- you don't know what they're doing. you don't know what the end game

is. >> bill: here's the deal. if you can't figure it out as close as you are -- >> yeah? >> bill: imagine how fuzzy it must look to the american people. hold that thought. we'll come back to that. meredith joins us and joins our team this morning. peter ogborn is out and about with his family. >> i'll try not to cause too much trouble peter if you're listening as you said you might be. >> bill: dan henning is here as always. >> good morning. >> bill: phil backert has the phones. cyprian bowlding, our videographer has us here on camera. meredith yesterday we noted the loss of robert borke a man who probably will best be remembered for making his name into a verb. >> i think he was very honest about that, right? he acknowledged this. >> bill: yes, that's right. first he was nominated by president reagan to the supreme court in 1987.

a man who was very outspoken as a judge in his views particularly on the social issues that got him into a lot of trouble. teddy kennedy led the fight against him on the senate judiciary committee. >> in robert borke's america there is no room at the inn for blacks and no place in the constitution for women and in our america there should be no seat on the supreme court for robert borke. >> bill: whoa! and there wasn't. >> he must have had a very good speechwriter because that was a well-termed phrase. >> bill: and he was -- he was really the first one who came up with what scalia now espouses which is that the supreme court has to look -- at the constitution of the united states and if it ain't in the constitution, then it doesn't exist, right? strict construction or originalism as they call it which is as justice fryer has

pointed out, doesn't work today. the constitution is even -- even if scalia doesn't want to admit it a living document. here's the trivia question for you. this is not fair i know. >> do you know what year i was born by the way? 1987. i don't mean to run that in to be mean. it might be fuzzy for me. >> bill: that's why the trivia question is probably not fair -- it would not be fair for me unless i read this in "the new york times," i would not have known it this morning. but borke did not get the seat. who did? the clock is ticking. >> we're not going to -- i'm just going to concede. >> bill: you don't know. >> no. >> bill: i was reminded borke didn't get it. then they nominated a guy named douglas ginsburg. ginsburg didn't get it either because it was revealed that he smoked pot while in college. >> wow. >> bill: he withdrew his name.

>> how our times have changed. >> bill: yes and then judge anthony kennedy from sacramento was nominated and now we have justice anthony kennedy. >> and now i'll know next time that comes up, i'm going to be the savior for my team. >> bill: all right. so president obama with a task force on guns. and both sides far far apart on the fiscal cliff. no plan b. but first get the headlines from dan. >> this is the "full court press." >> things you need to know before you head out the door this morning. president obama has compared his experience on election night to that of a wedding. in a new interview with "people" magazine coming out this week, the president says november 6th was like a wedding. you hope everyone is having fun. aunt mable is getting a ride home and your crazy cousin isn't drinking too much. he talked about things he does in private in the white house including doing the gangnam style dance. he has done it in front of his daughters but he will not do it in public. >> i'm so embarrassed for him.

>> bill: yeah. he plays with bo, too. >> associated press announced its entertainer of the year yesterday. it is an interesting choice. it is a singer who did not do a major tour or put out a new album in 2012. she is though likely to put out the biggest movie song of the year. it is british singer adele. she sings skyfall and was a big winner at the grammys. in the ap voting, she beat out taylor swift and the author of "fifty shades of gray." >> and this is our world. i don't really even know what else to contribute. >> and finally humility can be taught. that is what "new york times" columnist david brooks says. he has joined a university where he'll teach a class on humility saying it will examine the premise that human beings are blessed with many talented burdened by sinfulness, ignorance and weakness. brooks told the magazine that

the course is designed to look at certain philosophical strategies as a guide for life and politics and everything else. >> you know what's sad? we need to teach humility. people don't espouse it. we have to instruct them by sending david brooks to yale to teach yale students how to be humble. >> bill: isn't it sort of a contradiction to be teaching a class on humility? isn't it sort of -- a prideful thing to do to say i'm so humble -- >> i'm so humble i can teach your class on humility? >> bill: i think it shows a lack of humility. we'll see what david brooks does with it. so meredith, first, let's start with the president. i was at the white house when the president announced his task force. >> then we had five questions on the fiscal cliff. >> bill: don't get me started. the white house press corps just -- >> i'm with you. >> bill: oh, god, it was embarrassing. so the president in january is going to be coming with some recommendations from the task

force. the united states congress. what kind of a reception is he going to get from this congress on -- we don't know exactly what they're going to recommend. let's say certain common sense measures to restrict access to military style weapons particularly like renewal of the assault weapons ban. is congress going to stand up and say damn right we ought to do this! what do you hear? >> it is a complicated question. i think that there is an increased will particularly on the senate side to do something. you're hearing a slight shift in tone especially from democrats who were supported by the nra who have traditionally been pro gun. remember senate majority leader harry reid voted against the first assault weapon ban in 1994 so he's someone who has been pro gun and he also manages the floor. one of the things you'll see from reid when he's trying to move something is count on other people to be surrogates. i don't know. i don't know what house

republicans will do. but i think there was such a dramatic response to what happened in connecticut that they would be hard-pressed not to make some of these small changes. because everyone put out some sort of statement in some regard. maybe we should look at what's happening because this has now happened five times in a period of two years. and then you have small children and i think it was just -- i hate to use the term, people use it in washington a lot. it was a game changer in this conversation. because people were so emotionally moved by it. i think you saw the president responding that way. and i think you've seen lawmakers across the board respond that way. i think one of the reasons you have the president saying we need this by january is because the longer you wait, the easier it will be for lawmakers to forget and people to not care as much. at the peak of its news cycle value, whatever you want to call it -- that increases the chances of doing something. >> bill: the last thing the president wanted was another commission, typical commission,

washington -- >> another one of the -- >> bill: where you take a year and they come out with a report and it never gets off the shelf. it might get one day of news and then nothing ever happens. so the president doesn't want it that way. but there have been, as you point out there have been several senators, joe manchin leading the way perhaps. >> the guy who in an ad, took a bullet and put it through the cap and trade bill. >> bill: when he was running for senate, right. now he says i'm not saying i support the ban. i want to have a -- i support having conversation about this stuff and the nra ought to be at the table. they ought to be at the table. you have to -- the pro gun people, several of them come out. you've also had voices, classic voices, steve king from iowa yesterday saying the last thing we want to do is do anything at all to infringe on our second amendment rights. >> here's the thing about the steve kings of the world. they'll never support this. this is one of the frustrating things i think for americans and

particularly democrats watching the gun control debate or lack thereof that's been happening. the people who weren't going to support the president on this particular issue are never going to support the president. they're never going to do it. if you believe it should be done, you have to cut your loss. on a side note, when i was watching the question and answer session with the president which one was remarkable because he hasn't been doing a lot of q&a in the pressroom with the media. >> bill: we did not expect him to take questions. we were surprised. >> if i could have asked the president one question and i don't know that i'll ever get a chance to be in the room and ask him a question. it would have been this. i watched him speak at nunntown on sunday. i watched him deliver a beautiful speech talking about protecting our school children. and the thing about protecting school children in america from gun violence isn't that you need to keep ak-47s out of schools. it is that in chicago, for example, the president's adopted hometown where he ran his campaign, do you know how many

shootings there were? how many reported gun incidents there were in chicago public school students last year? 319. that's up 20% from the school year before. 24 of those shootings were fatal. maybe they're not 6-year-olds living in suburban connecticut. >> bill: what is your question? >> if your commitment is to protect the school children in this country are you willing to show that kind of commitment to protect all school children? what is your level of commitment of trying to actually impose gun control? because at the end of the day people in d.c. public schools people in urban cities that are going to school, teachers in those schools they're not afraid of the magazine clips. it is the junk handguns. i have a friend who teaches in a prep school. a kid walked in with a gun that wasn't loaded but walked in last year. just with a gun in the backpack. that's a significant question to ask. >> bill: no. it is also -- part of the debate. there's no doubt about it. there are many more people

killed every year in this country from guns. we've had several people in the last couple of days who made that point on this program. than the mass murders. even what happened in newtown connecticut. as horrific as it was. you know, 30,000 people i think killed with guns every year in this country. so if you add up all of the mass murders, it is maybe 10% of that 30 but still it gets our attention particularly in newtown because there were 20 6-year-olds. as complex as it is, the president said yesterday you know, it is not an excuse for not doing anything. we have to do what we can. the president also yesterday, i thought it was remarkable. he talked about some of the people who have been killed with guns since friday. so he made the point that the carnage continues. even though we're still talking about newtown, there are all of the others, too. he made your point yesterday. hold that thought. we have to take a quick break here on the "full court press."

we want to find out about fiscal cliff, too from meredith shiner. we'll talk about that when we come back here on this thursday morning. stay with us. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> bill: meredith shiner is here from roll call. congresswoman rosa delaro will be joining us in the next segment. i do have to ask you. i go up and down, back and forth as to whether or not we're going

to resolve the -- the white house and congress or -- >> come together and have a christmas miracle. >> bill: christmas miracle and not go over the fiscal cliff. i'm firmly of the opinion right now a that there will be no deal and b we're better off not having a deal. >> okay, so i'll take both of those points. >> bill: do you think we're going to get a deal? >> i think it will be difficult at this point. even if we're talking about a logistical time perspective. it is thursday today. friday morning, there is going to be a service for senator inouye at the national cathedral. >> bill: i talked to a couple of members of congress who told me they were leaving tonight. >> yeah. because there is going to be a window friday afternoon that maybe they could try to work out a deal. saturday, there is a government plane with a bunch of lawmakers leaving to hawaii for a funeral on sunday. and the way that the schedule is, the earliest they could get back from hawaii is monday

morning first thing. >> bill: that's christmas eve. they're not going to do it christmas eve or christmas day. they won't do it the day after christmas. we're into new year's week. >> i think the only way you see any action and i don't know that that results in a deal is if boehner a able to string together the votes to pass a back-up plan. raising taxes or letting -- >> bill: plan b? but dead in the senate. >> sure. but if he passes it, there might be some political pressure to try to do something going forward. but did you hear about all of the rules committee drama last night? >> bill: we don't have time for it. they didn't even bring -- in order to move a bill on the house floor, you have to get a rule to bring it on the floor and they didn't even write the rule for the plan b. they were trying to do a completely different bill and democrats walked out and didn't show up for it out of protest. >> bill: whoa. there may not be action in the house. if there is, there won't be

action on the senate. so frankly as a democrat, i would rather see no deal than a bad deal. and i'm afraid -- >> i don't think your alone in that. there are plenty of senators and representatives who feel similar. look, we're already reaching out too far. >> bill: tell you what. we'll find out from a member of congress, rosa dell aro from connecticut whether or not there will be a deal and her take on newtown, connecticut. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." there is so much going on that every day presents another exciting issue. from financial regulation, iran getting a nuclear bomb, civil war in syria, fraud on wall street, destruction of medicare and medicaid. there are real issues here. having been a governor, i know that trade-offs are tough. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations.

i want our viewer to understand why things have happened. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

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this is the "bill press show," live on current and on your radio. thank you so much for being part of the program this morning. joining us on the full court press as we come out to you live all the way across this great land of ours, coast-to-coast from our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. where we are still living on pins and needles to see if there will be any resolution of the fiscal cliff crisis before the end of the year. looking less and less likely. the president challenging congress yesterday to get ready to act on his recommendations on be the issue of gun violence in this country. once we sigh the recommendations from the task force from vice president joe biden which he announced yesterday. in studio with us this hour as a "friend of bill," meredith shiner here from roll call covers congress for "roll call" and here a neighbor and representing the third district of connecticut congresswoman rosa delauro.

>> good to see you. >> bill: what happened a week ago tomorrow in newtown connecticut, your home state such a shock to all of the people of this country. but particularly to those of who you live in connecticut represent connecticut have for a long time. you were there in newtown connecticut. how is the community holding up? do you think that this time we'll see something done about guns? >> it is a very strong community in terms of community holding up. lut bet me just say i spent most of the weekend crying. this is overwhelming. slaughter of the innocent, bill. such a sense when everyone, every parent, every grandparent individual, you personalize it to your own family. i spent part of the weekend with my grandkids and i had to leave the room now and again because i i

would just look at them and i wanted to cry. i didn't want them to see me crying. they're 8 and 5 and 6 and 3. and even every one of my colleagues. and my colleagues from connecticut, how do you explain this to children? and i think you know, the nation is mourning with this community. but it is a strong community. it has been described as this kind of bedrock new england rural community. very strong ties, strong bond. everyone knows one another. and so that that has its good side and its bad side because every child knows every other child. every parent that's had children in their homes. and yet the bond between people that links them together. >> bill: that came out. the president recognized that and saluted that in his remarks sunday night. >> just one point before the issue on guns, i -- i listened

to the stories and know of the story of this young teacher from my district in stratford connecticut. vickie soto, 27 years old. she was the teacher who hid her children in the bathroom, in the closets to protect them. and faced the gunman and he just murdered her. she saved these children. the first responders saved these children because when he saw them, he then turned the weapon on himself. in the meantime, he had a military-style assault weapon. with enough rounds to kill all of the children in the whole school. >> bill: in that school. >> we need to do two or three things. this is a comprehensive complicated issue. for me, i've thought about it in terms of three ways. the gun issue the weapons issue and for me, the military-style

weapons, let's ban assault weapons. and high-capacity magazines. let's take a look at the background checks. let's go -- we can do that. no one wants to see those weapons in -- those are for military purposes. my colleague mike thompson, vietnam, he said he used an assault weapon. he is a hunter. he owns guns. he's come out and he's said that is not a weapon that individual civilians ought to be having. the second piece of this is mental health. mental health services. instead of talking now about arming our teachers, having police cruisers and national guard in front of every school, why aren't we putting trained mental health professionals in all of our schools? that's a direction that we need to have a national dialogue on. then for me, third, we have to look at this culture of the

glorified violence. and we have to have a discussion and a national discussion and how we -- we move to not let youngsters know, anyone know that violence is part of our way of life. >> bill: but they get that, don't they, particularly in the video games today and that's a -- you know, that's a tough area right? because you get into freedom of expression freedom of speech, and you know, how do you deal with that? >> you know, look, if i have all of the prescriptions -- >> bill: all three of those issues are important but all three are complicated. >> if we do not have the discussion in all three areas then we are -- in my view, then we are not addressing the fundamental problems that we have in order to be able to move forward. to think that you can talk about one area and say we've covered that and that's the silver

bullet, is not the direction for us to go in. it is complicated but we need to take it on. and we have a reservoir in terms of the mental health services area. that we don't tap into. i'm from new haven connecticut. as you know. i have the yale child study center which for years, has been look at children, their behavior, what happens to children who are exposed to violence. witness it or who experience it. we need to tap into those resources and these are places all over the country that can help parents and can help teachers and can help administrators, they can help us to try to make a difference in this area. >> well and i think it is all about framing the debate, right? in we're talking about mental health services, why mental health and talking about that openly has been stigmatized. it goes back to what we were talking about in 2009 and 2010 with the healthcare bill.

people don't see access to healthcare and access to health insurance as relate but the mother of this gunman reportedly was a single mother, she was divorced. she was a substitute teacher. if the choices between putting food on the table at night or getting your child a therapist or the mental services or health services he needs, i don't know how someone doesn't have proper insurance makes the choice to provide the services to their child and that might be a difficult child. >> bill: are the services available? good point mair dith. >> it is a very good point. the services are available but they are limited. because of resources. the substance abuse mental health services, samsa, the agency we continually battle for resources for that effort. the national center for children exposed to violence. every year. over the last 22 years i've been working with others to see about the resources for these

programs. you can get -- you can get an assault-type weapon in a nanosecond and you can't get mental health services for months. there's something wrong with this. it is wrong. there was an article that i read about another mother, she says i am adam lanza's mother. she was talking about her situation with her son. and the last line it said "i need help." and these are -- difficult area. complicated. but it's one that we have a moral responsibility to examine. the president said it so beautifully. the thing i listened -- when he said are we doing enough to protect our children? and when we examine what we're doing, that answer is no. we must change. >> bill: right. collectively, as a nation, we have not done enough.

he included himself in that, of course. so then the question is the -- is there a willingness, do you believe in the part of congress, meredith, we were talking about this before you arrived, there are some people like the steve kings of the world that are going to remain in their -- whatever the nra wants i'm fine with it. are there enough people now who are willing to come together and say we must do something? do you believe -- is it the will? >> related to that, what would you like to see the vice president come forward with? i know he's already started reaching out to people. what would force congress to potentially vote on any number of initiatives? >> well, to answer your question bill, i think there is much much more of -- i think this is real opening. i think that there's an urge urgency about this. somehow this has become -- it was so horrific that it is a pivotal moment coming to grips with violence. >> bill: yes. >> i think when you see and again, my colleague mike thomson of california, the

leader has passed with, working with members in the congress about what we might -- open the dialogue here. and he had heard from people who are long-time gun enthusiasts and activists who understand that this is time for this conversation. it is going to be difficult. this is not easy. but you have to take a look at the statistics. the number of children, of children who are killed every year by gun violence. this was not -- this was -- you know beyond the pale but children are dying every single day. from being killed by guns. so that much more of an openness. i think we have to -- engage in a way that brings everyone to the table. if we are going to be in the business of trying to divide people on this, let us take those who are reasonable, who

want to come together in order to move forward. i think the vice president meredith i think -- the vice president will reach out. i know that. we are going to -- in the congress, reach out to him. i know the leader is. but we need to take a look at the issue, in my view, of these assault-type weapons. we need to look at a prevention. and these kinds of preventive services. we need to look at that issue of culture and where we're going and how we can reason together. >> bill: and look at the mental health. the president has said he wants this to be a multidimensional approach. >> that's right. >> bill: congressman rosa delauro and meredith shiner. this is the "full court press." this is thursday, december 20th. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

exciting issue. from financial regulation, fraud on wall street. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> bill: we're talking about violence. congresswoman, are you equally positive about resolve the fiscal cliff before the end of the year? >> it is ok. you don't have to be diplomatic about it. we've already been undiplomatic

with it. >> i have no idea where we're going at the moment to be very honest with you. and i don't -- it is hard for me to see the agreement in the amount of time that we have. unless, you know, be prepared to stay on through. but what's happened is -- >> bill: christmas miracle i guess. >> miracle -- at the capitol. we're supposed to vote today on plan b. there were supposed to be two votes actually. one on a bill that would talk about the tax cuts below $250,000. but that was pulled. because the leader i think what happened was they believed that would pass. that there was the senate plan, it would have passed. supposed to take that up.

>> bill: they're not going to vote -- >> we're not voting on that. now they have the package that it is -- the revenue is up to a million dollars. now we heard late last night plan b. that they have moved to spending cuts, increased spending cuts which are look at maybe in healthcare for the prevention fund. >> to replace the sequester. >> to replace the sequester. they're looking at going after the food stamp program. so that we don't even know what the package looks like yet. and i know -- so really, it is a struggle within the republican conference. i don't know -- i don't know that the speaker knows whether or not he can galvanize the votes that he needs. i think that the president has offered a plan. he's been willing to demonstrate a compromise. but i think that the speaker --

he can't make a deal. he can't get to a deal. so i don't see what agreement we can come to within the next 24 to 48 hours if that's how long we're going to be here. >> given the president's plan, were house democrats comfortable with it? he moved the income to $400,000 from $250,000. he was willing to do a lot on spending cuts. also that changed cpi. >> bill: that's the one that i've heard from a lot of democrats on the social security. we always said it would not be on the table. the president said that. yet he put it on the table. >> you know, this is -- the president -- the president is moving in the direction of where we can come to some agreement and demonstrate a willingness to compromise. i will speak for myself. i don't believe social security should be on the table. i've said that all along. it is not part of the -- it is not responsible for the debt. if we want to address the issue

of social security, this is my view. we need to lift the cap. that's the way to do it. >> bill: absolutely. >> that's the income that we need. i don't believe that we ought to be dealing with social security benefits. but as i say negotiating to try to move in both sides. the president demonstrated wanting to have some movement and momentum. but on the republican side, they won't budge an inch. so that -- and meredith, to answer your question, there is concern. you know about social security. i'm concerned about you know that issue. i don't think social security should be on the table. >> bill: if a deal came to you which included this change -- change to cpi or which included cuts in social security benefits, could you vote for it?

>> no, i would not support it. no. clear about that. the fact is look, i'm not going to speculate. i will take a look at what the details of the plan are. but we each have to deal, you know, if it comes forward. we need to -- like i've been saying on the one side, we need to know what these cuts are. the spending cuts. that are being offered. before we move into -- >> bill: congresswoman, i have to -- that clock right there you see that. >> so dangerous. >> bill: it is -- it runs us all and sometimes ruins us all. >> i didn't get to ask you about the blog about all of your outfits and whether or not you follow this cult following that you have. >> i don't follow it but i know about it. >> bill: it is a great outfit this morning. >> thank you. >> bill: congresswoman, so great to see you. merry christmas happy holidays. >> happy holidays. >> bill: meredith, thank you for being here. perky as always. we love it.

>> thank you. >> bill: i'll be back and tell you what the president is up to today. closed door meetings which means dealing with fiscal cliff and cabinet appointments. how about that. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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